Gas mileage tips

Last Updated on July 22, 2024 by Mutiara

There are countless ways to increase gas mileage, using all of them together can have quite a big increase on a car’s mpg. Following are various techniques sorted by type.

Maintenance

• Use the recommended oil viscosity, and never a higher grade. Higher viscosity grade oil requires more energy to pump through the engine, and since the oil pump is driven directly by the crank the effect is quite noticeable.
• Overinflate your tires to reduce friction losses. A safe range is at least 38 psi, though some people have had good success with pumping their tires up to the maximum rating of 44 psi. One very minuscule drawback is the car height will increase by a very small amount, decreasing aerodynamic efficiency, however this effect is so small it probably can’t even be measured. Warning! Overinflating tires by substantial amounts will dramatically decrease a vehicle’s braking and handling abilities, due to decreased traction in the wheels.
• Get low rolling resistance tires.
• Seafoam will instantly restore plenty of engine power and gas mileage on any engine with over 50,000 miles by eliminating built up carbon from inside the combustion chamber, cleaning the vales, and etc.

Aerodynamics

Moon hubcaps.

• Lowering the vehicle decreases aerodynamic drag, this can be easily accomplished through lowering springs that are sold quite often for less than $ 200.
• Making a bellypan for the entire vehicle will reduce a tremendous amount of drag from beneath the car, though this task is more difficult as it requires lots of fabrication and the airflow through the engine bay will have to be taken into effect.
• Moon hubcaps, which cover the entire wheel with a smooth sheet metal hubcap, help decrease aerodynamic drag created by the constant turning of wheels. Generally inexpensive, and offer noticeable increase in mpg.

Mechanical Modifications

• Modify the intake to draw warm air closer to the engine. Through the use of the temperature sensor the ECU will adjust the air to fuel ratio to compensate for the less dense warm air, thus resulting in a more lean condition.
• Eliminating accessories. Accessories such as power steering and the A/C are powered by the accessories belt from the crank and require a lot of energy to perform their functions. This is why (especially on 4 cylinder motors) a great difference can be felt when the A/C system kicks on or when the power steering system is eliminated. Removing them not only frees up wasted energy from the motor but also eliminates a lot of weight in the vehicle. While the A/C does work from a clutch and can be disengaged from the motor, the power steering system uses energy at all times because it is constantly creating hydraulic pressure. Therefore eliminating power steering is the best one of the two systems to remove.
• Eliminating weight. The less weight in a vehicle the less the engine will have to work each time it accelerates. Keeping the car clean of all unnecessary things can have an impact on gas mileage, and reducing more weight also helps with braking power and handling. Even hubcaps on wheels can have a minor effect due to adding more rotational weight to the engine. Rotational weight wastes far more energy than regular weight being pulled by the engine.
• Balance shaft removal. In some vehicles balance shafts are used to reduce engine vibration, they are usually quite heavy and take away power form the engine, enough to notice a difference once they are removed. Removing them does not increase vibration by much, and is generally not a bad modification.

Fuel

• Fuel can be warmed up by the engine coolant with a heat transfer device. This can range anywhere from complex radiator like heat exchangers, to a coolant or fuel hose wrapped around the other counterpart. This has not been tested as widely, though supposedly it helps with fuel atomization. However this may have a negative effect on injectors, and fuel line will often require replacement as the old ones have a high chance of failure once a lot more heat is applied.
• Use acetone as a gasoline additive. Only using 3 oz for every 10 gallons filled, can yield significant improvements in gas mileage, while cleaning the fuel system and engine at the same time. There are no harmful effects, though mpg improvements vary from car to car based on engine design, some cars receiving no benefit at all. For example, a third generation Ford Escort & ZX2 with an automatic will typically get 270 miles out of 10 gallons, after using acetone the range obtained increases to 300-330.

Driving

• In a vehicle with a manual transmission, the engine can be turned off when the car is slowing down and coming to a stop or a turn up ahead.
  1. When there is a red light up ahead the clutch should be disengaged from the engine and the engine can be turned off.
  2. The vehicle can continue cruising towards the light and slow down to try to avoid a complete stop.
  3. Once the light has changed and traffic is beginning to move once again, use of the engine is required once more, a quick engagement of the clutch for one second to start it in the appropriate gear, and then engaging it again to resume regular driving prevents the engine from idling at all.
  4. This can be accomplished at speeds as low as 5 mph in first gear, when almost coming to a stop. #* The starter can be used as well for situations when a complete stop must be made, however requiring a lot of energy, the total outcome of doing this may not be beneficial for very short stops.
  5. Using this method can eliminate almost all idling during city driving conditions, and increase the gas mileage by an average of 10%.
• The drag from having the windows down in a vehicle wastes less energy from an engine than running the a/c compressor. In general driving with windows down and without a/c is much better on gas mileage although results can vary based on engine size and vehicle aerodynamics.
• On some automatic vehicles, it is possible to shift into a more efficient gear by accelerating and then going back to the slower speed. This will decrease engine rpms, and can easily be done by observing the tachometer and noting the shift points. For example, a Ford Windstar will do about 2,000 rpm at 40 mph, however as soon as the vehicle reaches 45 mph the transmission will shift into the third overdrive gear and the engine rpms will drop to about 1500. Then one can decelerate to the original speed of 40 mph, and the transmission while still in third gear will make the engine only do 1200 rpms, a much more efficient state than 2,000.
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